Norfolk

Introduction

The coast of Norfolk is generally low-lying, with some cliffs cut mainly in Pleistocene glacial drift, apart from the Hunstanton cliffs in Cretaceous rock and some sectors of Pliocene Crag in the south-east. The Chalk outcrops in shore platforms between Cromer and Weybourne. The north-east coast is lined by dunes fronting alluvial lowlands, and the north coast west of Weybourne is an array of spits, barrier islands and salt marshes in front of bluffs marking a Late Pleistocene coastline.

Much of the coast is exposed to North Sea waves, those from the north-east generating a southward drift of beach sediment on the east coast and a westward drift on the north coast, but variations in longshore drifting result from occasional northerly and north-westerly waves. South of Hunstanton, wave energy diminishes along the east and south-east coasts of The Wash, where broad sand and mud areas are exposed at low tide.

Beaches on the Norfolk coast have been supplied with sand and...